Safe Arrival

Our journey from Spokane to Salzburg was straightforward albeit lengthy. The 8 hour layover in Denver was a bit much. Julie, my eldest, met us at the Salzburg airport and transported us and luggage to the apartment we are sharing with her friends, Anne and Claes. Their hospitality to stangers is unparalleled. They are very brave, but will learn their lesson soon.

I checked in at the university, but needed to return the next morning to get the Internet connection and access keys arranged. I met a number of friends there from former visits. They were relieved to learn that I was in no way responsible for Dubya's ascendancy to the presidency of the USA.

I returned to the apartment around noon and after a nice lunch, Eli and I walked to the Hauptbahnhof and caught the 13:04 to Kirchberg, a slow 2 1/2 hour scenic ride through the alps. Arriving at Kirchberg, we were in a hurry to see the rest of Julie's extended family but were forced from habit to stop for a gelatto. As we walked down Reithergasse to our home away from home, we met various family members - Jessica, Helene, Willi, Mathilda, Marie, Rosa, and Sophie. We finally reached Julie and Georg's house, finding Julie rather sick (a frequent side effect of our visits). Georg was at work - he was the only one we had not yet encountered.

When Georg returned from work, he fixed a quick supper and then we were off to Jessica's piano recital in nearby Kitzbühel, featuring the new Bösendorfer piano (got those umlauts out of my system). Just off our trip, we took turns awakening each other until Jessica finally appeared in an otherwise endless stream of musicians. She did a great job. Before leaving for home, we walked about the Altstadt and had (of course) a gelatto.

Then home to bath and bed. We are now sleeping while my automated, computerized letter writer extracts the day's memories from my brain (or facsimile thereof).

Bis Morgen,
Richard
2004.05.20